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Chhalaang Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao And His Team Leap Into Your Heart With Their Breezy Act
Available on: Amazon Prime
"Beta jeet aksar unki ho jaaya karti hai joh haar maana taaltey chaley jaatey hain." Montu's father (Satish Kaushik) gives him this shot of confidence when the boy ends up dejected at a crucial point in his life. That's the biggest takeaway from the film for both, the makers and the audience. Despite the 'highs' and 'lows' in its narrative, Hansal Mehta's Chhalaang crosses every hurdle and reaches the winning point.
What's Yay: Performances, Direction
What's Nay: The narrative loses its grip at a few places. Also, you will be left a tad disappointed if you are looking out for some high-tension driven sports sequences like Dangal.
Plot
Mahendra aka Montu (Rajkummar Rao) is a small-town PT instructor with a lack of ambition in his life. "Aur PT karke kaunse Bill Gates ban jaayege," he tells his mother in one of the scenes in the film. Montu has a history of giving up on almost every task that he has ever undertaken. At school, he doesn't mind lending away his PT periods to other teachers. Montu spends most of his time in the company of his colleague Shuklaji (Saurabh Shukla) who is also his drinking companion.
Soon, Neelu (Nushrat Bharucha) joins the school, and Montu tries every trick from his book to impress her. After a rocky start, their love story picks up momentum. Enter Montu's adversary, IM Singh (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), the new PT teacher who is more qualified and experienced than our hero. After a scuffle in the sandpit, Montu throws a challenge at Singh for a multi-sports contest to prove who is a better PT instructor. With his shattered ego and bruised self-esteem, Montu sets out to face a set of challenges with his team of underdogs to win back his lady love and respect.
Direction
Hansal Mehta tries his hand at comedy for the first time and fares well. He makes his characters real and relatable. The film's lines crackle with humour and the punches land well most of the times. One of the biggest strength of Chhalaang is that Mehta doesn't shy away from showing the flaws of his hero. At one point, Neelu even calls out Montu's fake behaviour to impress her and says, "Tum farzi ho." Luv Ranjan who often faces brickbats for the misogynistic male characters in his films, drops a pleasant surprise in collaboration with Mehta.
Chhalaang begins with a sluggish pace and takes its own sweet point to reach the crux of the story. The sport sequences could have been a little more gripping.
Performances
Rajkummar Rao delivers a sincere performance as a wastrel who ultimately realizes the man he could be if he has his ambition and hard work in place. Nushrat Bharucha's sharp-witted clapbacks pack a punch, and her chemistry with Rao is congenial. Veteran artists Saurabh Shukla and Satish Kaushik are reliable as always. Mohammed Zeshaan Ayyub does complete justice to what is offered to him.
Technical Aspects
Eeshit Narain's camera work captures the small-town milieu and the slow-mo sports shots with finesse. Akiv Ali and Chetan Solanki's editing keeps the narrative in a tight grip.
Music
Barring the Chhalaang anthem 'Le Chhalaang, none of the other tracks deliver a winning number on the scoreboard. The background music works fine for the film.
Verdict
In one of the scenes, Montu says, "Hamari desh mein har koi chhata hai ki unke beta Sachin Tendulkar bane aur beti Saina Nehwal. Par Sachin aur Saina ka maa-baap koi banna nahin chahta," and goes on to emphasize the importance of support in one's life. Just like these words, in Chhalaang, Hansal Mehta is backed by his talented cast and crew in delivering a feel-good film with its heart in the right place.
We gave 3 stars out of 5 for Rajkummar Rao-Nushrat Bharucha starrer Chhalaang.
